Schools in Beirut were closed on Monday after Israeli strikes on the Lebanese capital killed six people including Hezbollah's spokesman, the latest in a string of top militant targets slain in the war.

Mohammed Afif, the head of media relations for Hezbollah, was killed in a strike on the Arab socialist Baath party's office in central Beirut, officials said.

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah confirmed its media relations chief Mohammad Afif was killed by an Israeli strike on a building in central Beirut on Sunday.

Hezbollah's media chief Mohammed Afif has been killed in an Israeli strike in central Beirut, according to news reports citing Lebanese security sources. A strike hit the headquarters of the Baath political party in the densely populated Ras al-Naba neighbourhood on Sunday, according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency.

An Israeli strike on a building in central Beirut on Sunday killed Hezbollah's media relations chief Mohammad Afif, two Lebanese security sources told Reuters, though there was no immediate confirmation from Hezbollah.

Israel has stepped up strikes on the city’s southern suburbs in recent days, an area Israeli officials say hosts Hezbollah militants and infrastructure.

Mohammed Afif had been responsible for Hezbollah's media relations, and provided information to local and foreign journalists.

William Christou reports for the Guardian from Beirut on the strike by Israeli forces on a building in Ras al-Nabaa, central Beirut, on Sunday afternoon, the first strike on centr

Air strikes hit the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital Thursday after an Israeli warning to evacuate parts of the Hezbollah bastion, AFPTV images showed.